Funding frontier climate tech for children’s health
UNICEF Venture Fund calls on startups developing frontier tech solutions for children at the intersection of climate and health to join its Climate Ventures cohort
The UNICEF Venture Fund invests in open-source frontier technology solutions from emerging markets. For this call for applications, we are seeking proposals from climate-focused startups developing open-source frontier technology solutions that have the potential to create radical change for children. We are actively seeking companies that push the boundaries with frontier technologies in innovative and scalable ways with global relevance.
We are offering up to US$100,000 in equity-free funding for early-stage and ready-to-deploy technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and blockchain. Companies must be registered in one of UNICEF’s programme countries and have working prototypes and a commitment to open-source licensing and practices. Women-led startups and young founders are especially encouraged to apply.
Application deadline: 17 May 2026
The Challenge
As climate change accelerates, children and their communities are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, floods, droughts and air pollution that threaten access to health services, safe water, nutrition and education.
About 1 billion children live in countries facing high climate and environmental risk. Meanwhile, 466 million children – roughly one in five worldwide – live in areas experiencing at least twice as many days of extreme heat (measured as more than 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit) compared with the 1960s, highlighting the rapid escalation of heat-related hazards.
Climate shocks are intensifying existing vulnerabilities. Despite being among the most affected, children remain underrepresented in the design of climate technologies intended to address these challenges.
The need
The climate innovation landscape is expanding rapidly, with growing investment in frontier technologies, data-driven solutions and climate-focused ventures aimed at building climate-resilient communities and systems.
However, much of this innovation does not sufficiently prioritize child-specific risks, health outcomes or the realities of climate-affected communities in emerging markets. There is a critical gap between emerging climate technologies and scalable, locally relevant solutions that directly strengthen systems children depend on for survival and development.
This call for applications is the first in our five-year Climate Ventures investment programme dedicated to catalyzing child-centric climate innovation. Climate Ventures will identify and invest in scalable, open-source solutions that protect children’s health, enhance preparedness and anticipatory action, and improve coordination and resilience across health, education and basic services.
By prioritizing innovations that are locally adaptable, data-driven and child-centred, Climate Ventures will help shift climate technology toward equitable impact for this and coming generations. At its core is a commitment to strengthen the resilience of systems that safeguard children’s wellbeing.
What we’re looking for
The Venture Fund champions diversity, inclusion and frontier tech innovation by backing early- and growth-stage startups leveraging AI, machine learning, blockchain and other frontier technologies, especially those that are ready to deploy in low-resource or emergency settings.
Recognizing the urgent and multidimensional threats climate change poses to children, the Venture Fund will catalyze innovation in four key areas:
Area 1: Strategic planning
We are looking for solutions that strengthen global-to-local climate and environmental hazard mapping; generate health facility, school and community-level vulnerability scores; and identify pollution hotspots. Solutions could include:
- Social and behavioural change tools or platforms that translate large amounts of data on climate and health risks into clear, localized guidance for communities and public authorities.
- Open, interoperable, AI-driven carbon accounting and greenhouse gas inventory tools for local actors to measure and report emissions.
- Mapping of flood, heat, air quality and power outage risk layers against national health facility registries using local data and knowledge sources to develop AI-ready databases. This can support making linkages between health facilities and climate vulnerability measures.
- Frontier tech models for enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in the access to – and delivery of – limited resources to support climate response, such as tools for optimizing service delivery and forecasts with planning.
- Digital tools that assess and reduce the carbon and resource footprint of healthcare value chains, including platforms linking air pollution and environmental exposure data to child health outcomes.
Area 2: Early warning, early action
We are seeking tools and platforms for hyper-local climate and environmental data for local governments, community leaders and schools, such as air pollution, UV, heat and humidity alerts. This could include early warning solutions for floods and storms and disease outbreaks alerts, and triggers for disaster relief. Solutions could include:
- Early warning systems for climate-sensitive health risks, including vector-borne diseases, zoonoses and heat-related illness, using predictive analytics and real-time data.
- AI- and blockchain-enabled parametric insurance or disaster financing mechanisms using anomaly detection, climate telemetry and automated triggers to support rapid response during climate-related health shocks.
- Decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), such as weather or air-quality stations deployed in schools and health facilities, that generate trusted local data to trigger anticipatory action mechanisms, including smart contract–based responses or community incentive models.
Area 3: Healthcare readiness
We are seeking novel technologies for predictive analysis and forecasting for national and regional preparedness, such as onset dates for malaria or dengue; heatwave morbidity surge forecasts; and smog, wildfire, dust storm and other seasonal air quality anomalies and respiratory surge forecasts. This could include solutions such as:
- Open-source, AI-driven ‘Forecast-in-a-Box' early warning or predictive analytics tools ready to deploy in low-resource or emergency settings.
- AI-driven anomaly detection for pollution measurement tooling (e.g. air quality, lead pollution in soil, etc.).
- Low-cost, ready-to-deploy monitoring tools including Internet of Things (IoT) sensors linked to anticipatory action protocols for schools, health facilities and public spaces, combining air quality, temperature, humidity and UV data.
- Climate-sensitive forecasting models for infectious diseases (e.g. malaria, dengue, etc.) and heat-related illnesses, linked to public health decision-making and surge planning (such as DHIS2).
- Platforms to model trends and develop existing linkages between pollution and environmental damage with epidemiological modeling on disease spread and impact on health and food supply, as well as correlations with asthma development in toddlers and other lung diseases.
Area 4: Point-of-care support
We are looking for data-driven solutions that help local authorities and communities access, interpret and share trusted climate and health data, and provide behavioural health nudges. These solutions could support healthcare facility preparedness, service continuity and adaptive service planning. This could include use cases such as:
- Locally trained or fine-tuned large language models (LLMs) that generate region-specific climate health insights for local governments operating in multiple languages with the ability to function offline or in low-bandwidth environments.
- Decentralized decision-making systems that enable communities to retain self-custody of health and climate-related data, including consent-based data sharing for research or AI development.
- Interoperable, digital identity solutions to coordinate beneficiary data across multiple agencies in climate-related public health emergency settings.
- Multilingual, AI-enabled triage systems to support community health workers with climate-sensitive case management.
Additional resources:
- Read more about the application process here
- Read more about the eligibility criteria and scoring here
- Find out what happens after you receive an investment here
- See previously funded projects here
- For any other questions regarding Climate Ventures, please contact us
UNICEF is committed to upholding the rights of every child, ensuring that no child is denied opportunities based on race, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or any other status. We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination, harassment or exclusion in all aspects of our work, including our programmes, partnerships and workplace.
UNICEF fosters an inclusive environment where diversity is valued, and all individuals are treated with fairness, dignity and respect. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities defines living with a disability as having a long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment that – in interaction with the environment – hinders one’s participation in society on an equal basis with others.
